FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Two of the three inconsistencies found in state-sponsored school assessment report involving the North Schuylkill School District involves data submitted in 2008 to the Pennsylvania Department of Education that was not input by PDE personnel, according to district Superintendent Dr. Andrew D. Smarkanic.
Smarkanic said the third inconsistency involving a drop in math scores in the eighth grade between 2008 and 2009 could be based on a change in faculty in the department, and not on any cheating on the data filed in those year.
"The frustrating part was that when the article first ran, it indicated there might be cheating," said Smarkanic, who provided the 43-page "Data Forensics Technical Report" for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment provided by Data Recognition Corporation. The report involved the "2009 Reading and Mathematics" data for grades 3-8 and and 11. In North Schuylkill's case, the three flags involved grade 8.
"I want to set the record straight since the North Schuylkill School District does not need to skew its test results in order to pass the PSSA exams and meet AYP," said Smarkanic.
The reports states that schools were flagged "on statistical evidence" alone and any inconsistencies between the two years compared "does not imply that the school or student engaged in inappropriate testing activity."
Smarkanic and Secondary Principal Sharon Snyder spoke on the flag on a significant change in mathematics scores in grade 8 between 2008 and 2009.
"The first flag occurs in mathematics. The reason the flag showed up was that in our raw test data, it went down 82 points (from 2008 to 2009)," said Smarkanic. "That certainly doesn't indicate cheating. If cheating had occurred, it would have been the opposite."
Snyder explained a possible reason for the drop in the test scores.
"The same cohort of students in the seventh grade were all taught by three teachers who had several years of teaching experience," said Snyder. "In the eighth grade, over half of the students were taught by two first-year teachers in four of the seven sections. Obviously a first-year teacher is not going to do the job that more experienced teachers would have done."
Snyder added that different teachers conduct the tests than those who teach the course.
"What we do here is that the teachers who teach the courses are not the teachers who conduct the testing," said Snyder. "They're tested through their homeroom. You could easily have a 12th grade English teacher proctoring a 7th grade math test because they happen to have a 7th grade homeroom."
"The anomaly here is that our reading went down 61 points in that same grade," said Smarkanic. "That wasn't flagged because it wasn't statistically significant for that to happen."
In his response to Dr. Carolyn Dumaresq, deputy secretary of the PDE Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Smarkanic wrote that the anomaly in the reading test results "raises a flag with our internal investigation" in addressing the drops in both reading and mathematics at the district level, including how the students are prepared for the tests, and that both results "are an anomaly for this particular class for both subject areas and not an abnormality in the testing procedures."
The two other flags involved statistics on the number of "economically disadvantaged students" (EDS). The report shows that in 2008 there were no EDS in the mathematics and reading sub-groups participation, while in 2009 the percentage of EDS in the grade was 38.2 percent. The mathematics and reading sub-groups inconsistencies each received a flag.
"The economically disadvantaged students report for 2008, which was submitted to the state, never ended up as part of the data," said Smarkanic. "So, under 2008 there is a zero, but when it went to 2009, the data was skewed and shot out a flag."
Smarkanic provided a copy of the EDS report for 2008, which was prepared in September 2008 and signed by then-Superintendent Mark Semanchik. Smarkanic has a record that the report was filed.
"If the data had been input, it would not have been flagged," said Smarkanic. "We don't know what happened. We have 30 days by August 15 to submit our report to the state on this assessment, which the other school districts will also do, and from that the state will produce a compilation of the input and come up with another report. So I'm hoping at that time that the state will note that the three flags for North Schuylkill were in error or explainable."
Smarkanic said there are strict procedures in place from the time the tests are received from the state, with Snyder supervising their distribution, receiving the finished tests immediately after they are completed and having them prepared for shipment back to PDE as quickly as possible.
"The procedures here are extremely tight, and Sharon prides herself in that," said Smarkanic. "The long and the short of it is there was no cheating."
Snyder said that the district superintendent is not directly involved with the testing procedures.
"The superintendent does not have his hand in the PSSA testing whatsover," said Snyder. "Obviously, Dr. Smarkanic oversees things as our educational leader, but he leaves the carrying out the procedures to the administration and teachers under him. It's always been that way. I've seen many superintendents while I've been here, and I have never had a superintendent who has put their hand into the PSSAs."